Foot accelerator for automobiles



Feb. 9,1926. 7 1,512,457

W. J. WINTER ET AL FOOT ACCELERATOR FOR AUTOMOBILES Filed Oct. 19, 1925Wliiam wuier,

flan McKinley Y/almea.

Patented Feb. 9, 1926.

UNITED STATES P'TENT or c FOOT ACCELERATOR FOR AUTOMOBILES.

Application filed October 19, 1925.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, WILLIAM J. 11vrm and FRANK McKinney HOLMES,citizens of the United States, residing at the city and county of Denverand State of Colorado, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Foot Accelerators for Automobiles; and we do declare the following tobe a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as willenable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and usethe same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to thecharacters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of thisapplication.

This invention relates to improvements in foot accelerators forautomobiles;

The power and speed of an internal com bustion engine is controlled bycontrolling the amount and richness of the fuel mixture admitted to theengine. For this purpose a butterfly valve is provided between themixing chamber of the carburetor and the intake manifold. WVhen thisvalve is opened, the engine is supplied with a greater amount of fueland. produces an increased amount of power. In most of the automobilesthe fuel valve is controlled by an apparatus that includes a pedal orplunger that is controlled by the foot of the driver; these devices areusually referred to as foot accelerators. In one type of automobile ofwhich large numbers are in use, the fuel valve is controlled entirely bya hand lever. Some drivers. however, prefer to control the fuel supplyby some foot operated mecha nism and to supply the demand for such devices various types of foot accelerators have been devised.

Itis the object of this invention to produce an accelerator mechanismthat can be readily applied to an automobile, of the type referred to,which shall be of simple sub stantial construction, positive in itsoperation and which can be cheaply made and readily installed.

The present invention can be most clearly described and will be mostreadily understood when reference is had to the accompanying drawing inwhich it has been illustrated and in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view looking down on the automobile engine and showsthe control mechanism in place, parts being shown broken away tosimplify the drawing;

Serial No. 63,327.

Fig. 2 is a view taken on line 22 Fig. 1'

Fig. 3 is a section taken on line 3-3,

Fig. 2;

Fig. 1 is a detail view looking in the direc-- tion of arrow 1 in Fig.3. p Y

Numeral 1 designates the internal combustion engine of an automobile, 2the carburetor and 3 the intake manifold. The carburetor is connected tothe fuel tank it by means of a tubular member The car- T UIQ EOI'lHIS apivoted lever 6 that controls the fuel valve which is'located betweenthe mixing chamber and the intake manifold 3. In the type of automobileto which this invention relates, the fuel control valve is controlled byrotating a rod 7 that carries" a crank arm 8 whose free end is providedwith an opening 9 from which a rod extends to the opening in the outerend of the valve lever 6. By rotating the rod 7 in one directic-n oranother, the fuel valve may be opened or. closed. a 1

Instead of connecting the end of the arm 8 with the end of lever 6 by asingle rod, a double armed crank having levers 10 and. 11 thatJ-li'e inspaced parallel planes and are connected by short straight part 12 (Fig.4) that forms a pivot which extends through the opening 9 in themannershown in Fig. 3. The outer end of the lever 10 has an opening 13 for thereception of the hooked end 1 1 of the rod 15 whose other end ispivotally connected with the lever 6. A tension spring 16 has one endconnected to the bent end 14 and the other connected to the engine as at17 so that it constantly tends to move the rod 15 to the right and thefuel valve to closed position. By rotating the rod 7, the position ofthefuel valve can be controlled. If we leave the rod 7 and arm 8 in theposition shown in Figs. 1 and 3 or in any other position, the fuel valvecan be opened still farther by rotating the double armed crank inaclockwise position (Fig. 3). When the force by which this crank isrotated is removed, the spring 16 will promptly return the parts to theposition shown in Fig. 3. In order that the double armed crank may bemoved by the drivers foot, a push rod 18 is provided. This rod is'pivotally connected at 19 with the end 20 of the arm or lever 11 and isprovided with an offset end portion 21 which projects through the floorboards 22 and is provided with a head 23. lVhen sufficient force isapplied to the head 23 to overcome the action of the spring 16, theparts are moved towards dot-- ted line position (Fig. 3) and this movesthe fuel valve towards open position.

By'the means just described, the fuel may be controlled by means of theusual hand control or by the foot as may be desired. The hand controlmay be adjusted to give suflicient fuel for moderate speed which may beincreased by using the foot accelerator.

Having now described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. In an engine fuel control, in combination, a source of fuel, acarburetor, an engine, an intake manifold between the engine and thecarburetor, a valve for controlling the passageway between thecarburetor and the engine, and means for controlling said valve, saidmeans comprising an adjustable pivot, a double levered crank memberpivoted in the'adjustablehpivot, means for connecting one end of one ofsaid levers withthe valve, a spring means for normally holding the valvein closed position, and a push rod connected to one end of the other ofsaid levers for moving thesame about its pivot when sufficient force isapplied to the push rod to rotate the double crank member against theforce of the spring. I

2. An enginevfuel' control device, comprising, in combination, anengine, a source of liquid fuel, a carburetor, means for connecting thefuel supply to the carburetor, means for connecting the carburetor tothe engine,

a valve in said last mentioned connection, a crank arm, means forrotating said crank arm about an axis, the free end of said crank armhaving an opening, a double crank member having two angularly relatedlevers lying in spaced parallel planes, said levers being connected by ashort part that extends perpendicular to the planes of the levers, saidshort part being adapted to be journaled in the opening in the end ofthe crank arm,

means connecting one end of one of said levers with the valve, a springnormally under tension and adapted to produce a force tending to movesaid valve to closed position, and a push rod connected with the freeend of the other lever so that when sufficient force is applied to thepush rod to overcome the force exerted by the spring, the valve will bemoved toopen position.

3. Atuel valve controlling device comprising, in combination, a crankarm having an opening atone end, a double levered crank pivoted in theopening in said crank arm, a rod connected at one end to the free end ofone of said levers, a spring means connected with said rod and exertinga force thereon tending to move it in one direction and a push rodconnected to the free end of the other lever so that when sutficientforce is exerted on the push rod it will be moved longitudinally, rotatethe double armed crank and move the first mentioned rod against thetension of the spring.

In testimony whereof we aflix our signatures.

VILLIAM J. WVINTER; FRANK MCKINLEY HOLMES.

